Our Blog

Donor Profile: Art Egg

May 15, 2014

Like New Orleans itself, the ReStore is a diverse, DIY-type community of artists and entrepreneurs. From our cashiers to our customers, everyone at the ReStore likes to get involved, get their hands dirty, and create something new. This month, we’re grateful to our new partners at ArtEgg Studios, whose environmental practices and mission to foster a creative community jibe so well with our own.

ArtEgg Studios is a multi-use rental building in the Broad Street Cultural Products District that offers almost 50 studios of various sizes, shapes, and uses to local artists, nonprofits, and businesses. Owned by Dr. Esther Dyer, ArtEgg specializes in providing its tenants with green workspaces by incorporating repurposed materials and using sustainable methods in their building.

Originally a warehouse for the HG Hill Food Stores, the building was converted into rental spaces over ten years ago, in the hopes of fulfilling Dyer’s vision of creating a rich, dynamic environment. From what Ashley Boudreaux, the facility manger and caretaker, reports, ArtEgg is exactly that. “It’s a diverse community, dynamic and always changing,” says Boudreaux.

ArtEgg has a long history with the ReStore. They began as customers at the store before developing into donors. “In the post-Katrina rebuilding,” says Boudreaux, “we utilized a lot of things ourselves from Habitat.” Now, as the home base for several thriving artists and businesses, they will occasionally come across items that they can donate to the ReStore. “When people move out, they sometimes leave things behind—we try to repurpose them, but since our rebuilding is done here at ArtEgg, we can give them to the Habitat ReStore.”

Because ArtEgg is itself a unique, progressive facility, the items we’ve gotten from them have been equally eclectic and interesting. Their first donation was a set of various-colored lockers, followed up by a donation of building materials and furnishings. All of which fit in perfectly with the DIY vibe at the ReStore.

To find quality items for a great price, come visit us at the ReStore this week! We’re located at 2900 Elysian Fields Avenue, open from 10-6 Tuesday through Saturday. Interested in donating? Swing by to drop your donation off, sign up for a pickup on our website, or give us a call at 504-943-2240.